Former CEO of Greek bank arrested in Turkey to be deported

The former chief executive of the Hellenic Postbank, mired in an unsecured loans scandal, will be deported to Greece after his arrest in Turkey, Greek authorities said Saturday.

Angelos Filippidis, the subject of an international warrant, was arrested Friday in his hotel in Istanbul after Turkish authorities tracked his mobile signal, Greek media reported.

His lawyer, Thanassis Varlamis, told AFP that the former CEO had appeared before a Turkish magistrate on Saturday and asked to return to his country in order to face questioning.

The deportation was approved and could take between two and forty days, according to the Greek consulate.

Filippidis has previously denied any wrongdoing.

"All the loans were issued with unanimous decisions by the board and all the procedures were respected," Filippidis told Skai Radio on Thursday.

A picture taken on December 10, 2009 shows former Hellenic Postbank chairman Angelos Filippidis in Athens

Eurokinissi, Eurokinissi/AFP/File

"If I could turn back time, I would issue them again today," he said.

He also claimed that the Hellenic Postbank's bad-loan ratio was far lower than that of other bigger Greek banks.

An unsecured loan is particularly advantageous to the borrower since no guarantee or collateral is required.

Twenty-five people have been charged, four of whom have already been arrested in Greece, in a probe into losses by the bank of over 400 million euros ($549 million).

Among those charged is the head of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund -- charged with maintaining the stability of the Greek banking system -- Anastasia Sakellariou, who was part of a committee that handled the loans under investigation.